Alternative Doomsday
by JaneDoe83
Summary: This is an alternative ending to Doomsday. Just imagine Rose had left that yellow disc around her neck after she returned to the Doctor.


Alternative Doomsday

Rose held as tight as she could to the Magnaclamp on the wall. The suction of the Void was pulling at her strongly, but the plan was obviously working. More and more Daleks and Cybermen were flying by, vanishing into the breach, and Rose and the Doctor would stay together. She would never see her parents nor Mickey again, that was true, but she would be with him. She had made a decision.

Yet, suddenly the computer's voice was sounding through the room again, announcing that the system was offline. Rose and the Doctor looked at each other bewildered. She turned her head and saw that the lever on her side was moving back into the off-position. And now the power of the suction was indeed weakening.

"Turn it on!" the Doctor shouted behind her, and Rose tried to reach for the lever but eventually had to let go of the Clamp. She grasped the lever and tried to push it back up again. It wasn't easy, but she finally made it. She could feel the power of the suction getting stronger again.

"Rose, hold on!" the Doctor shouted, and she tried as hard as she could, but the lever was more slippery than the Magnaclamp. She couldn't help it and soon only hung on to it with her fingertips. "Rose! Hold on!" the Doctor shouted again and she could see the same desperation in his face that she was feeling. She didn't want to leave him, never again! She could feel her fingers losing their grip. What could she do?

Suddenly her eyes caught the yellow disc that was still hanging around her neck. The Doctor had just tried to save her when he had put it there in the first place, and now that might just be the case again. She quickly pressed the button and vanished in mid-air.

On the other side of the breach, Rose fell hard to the ground. Without further thinking or looking anywhere, she hurriedly scrambled back up to her feet. She hastened back the few steps to the spot where the Magnaclamp was positioned in her world. Now, she could also hear her parents and Mickey call out her name in surprise. It had obviously taken them a few instances to realise what had happened behind their backs. But now they seemed to be coming towards her from the far end of the room where they had been standing, facing the wall. Rose didn't turn to look at them. That would have only made that what she was about to do to them much harder. She would have to do it again, and so she just pressed the button on the yellow disc. For a split second she feared it wasn't working anymore, but then she could suddenly see the Magnaclamp in front of her, and quickly grabbed it.

Behind her she could hear the Doctor's voice shouting out her name in disbelieve. Suddenly the suction stopped, and she could feel the floor again beneath her feet. It had been really close, only one second later and Rose would have been trapped on the other side forever. She didn't even want to imagine this.

She tried to stand but her knees felt weak. The only thing that kept her from falling down were her hands that still clung tightly to the Clamp. She could hear the Doctor coming towards her. "Rose, that was brilliant! Admittedly stupid and risky, but just brilliant!", but when she didn't react to this, he continued worriedly: "Is everything alright? You can let go now, the breach is closed. Rose…?"

She pulled all her strength together and slowly turned halfway around to face him, still holding on to the Clamp. The Doctor had already come quite close to her and looked as worried as he had sounded. She tried to turn around completely, but as soon as she let go of the Clamp she lost her balance. She leaned against the wall behind her and slid down until she reached the floor where she stayed sitting.

The Doctor quickly knelt down beside her, took out his Sonic Screwdriver and slowly moved it from side to side in front of her eyes. "Looks like you've overdone things a little bit. But don't worry, as usual, I know just what to do." He winked at Rose encouragingly and carefully pulled her arm over his shoulders. Then, he heaved her up until she sort of was back on her feet, and slowly supported her out of the room. They slowly descended a few sets of stairs, but then the Doctor led her on one of the lower floors and finally into the cantine of the deserted building. He helped Rose to sit on a chair, pulled another one next to her to put her feet on. Rose was too tired and also startled about where he had brought her to say anything. She just watched him rush into the kitchen where she could see him through a large opening in the wall that was used for handing out the food. He quickly pulled open a few drawers, and when he had obviously found what he was looking for, he pointed his Screwdriver at the water kettle. When he returned he held a big steaming mug of tea in his hand.

"Here you go, there's nothing better than hot tea. But you know that of course", he said smiling, putting the mug down in front of her. Rose returned the smile weakly as she remembered all that had happened at Christmas. "In a few decades", he continued, "this will be the number one export product of good old Earth. Best cure-all in the Universe!" Rose carefully took a first sip and really felt a bit of strength returning to her body. The Doctor went on: "Helps fine when you suffer from the side effects of fighting against the Void's suction or switching between parallel universes too often in a short period..."

He made a little break and when he continued it was with a more serious tone. "...or when you just lost your family."

At this, Rose quickly looked down into her mug. She could feel tears filling her eyes. Everything had happened so quickly. She hadn't really thought about anything of it yet. She had just followed her instincts and those had brought her back to the Doctor. Twice.

"Rose, we don't need to talk about this now. We actually never have to talk about it if you don't want to. I just want to say that I know how you're feeling. I know how it feels to be alone."

This made her look back at him. "I am not alone, Doctor", she replied earnestly. "I am with you. That's what I wanted, I wanted to stay with you forever." The Doctor continued to look at her, but didn't say anything. Rose lowered her eyes again and continued more quietly: "I just wish I could have said goodbye properly."

The Doctor frowned, leant back in his chair and seemed to get lost in thought. Rose didn't feel like saying anything ese about it and continued to drink the tea. She slowly felt her strength recover.

"It was just the largest breach of many", the Doctor suddenly said, rather to himself. "What did you just say?" Rose replied surprised. The Doctor continued absentmindedly: "People have been hopping back and forth with these discs, Torchwood has been tearing the main breech open day after day. Surely, several smaller breaches will have opened…"

"What does that mean? Is there a chance we can get back to my parents and Mickey?" Rose could feel excitement creeping up inside her.

The Doctor looked at her properly now. It was as if he shortly had forgotten she was there. "What?"

"Well, you just said, there might be other breaches, so…" she replied agitatedly. "No, Rose, I am sorry, that's impossible", he said and quickly continued as she wanted to say something to this. "I am really sorry. Even if there are smaller breaches, they will have started closing by now, too. They could be anywhere in the universe, and we would need a large amount of energy just to send a short message through. And how should Jackie or the others know where to look for it..."

"Oh, I see", Rose replied sadly. She lowered her eyes again, mainly to hide her tears which she couldn't hold back any longer. It had all been too much. This whole day had just felt like one cruel rollercoaster ride.

The Doctor looked at her, feeling awful that he had even mentioned it at all. He just couldn't stand seeing her like that.

Had Rose looked at him at this moment, she might have seen that air of determination return to him. And like out of nowhere the Doctor suddenly said: "Have you finished your tea? I don't want to rush you, but we should really start searching for these gaps now!" Rose started, caught by surprise one more time on this day when so many things had happened. "What? But you just made it sound impossible..." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hands.

The Doctor jumped up, pushing his chair back. "Impossible? Sounds just like my thing, making the impossible possible for you, Rose Tyler!" He smiled at her encouragingly, and stretched out his hand for her. Rose, feeling better again, also jumped up, took his hand and together they ran from the room.


End file.
